I thought we might keep a thread on the fortunes of those players in contention to make Italy's Euro 2012 squad. It can be updated after each week's fixtures, to see who is up, down, and holds. Up Giovinco: phenomenal moment for the Atomic Ant. With two goals at the weekend he's joint top scorer with five goals this season. Cerci: nice goal today for Fiorentina. He's looking increasingly like the best Italian winger. Will he get a call-up soon? Balotelli: Tevez is finished at Manchester City; Mario isn't. Great goal at the weekend and according to word on the street, his attitude has been better lately. Down Ranocchia: Prandelli has dropped him for the upcoming fixtures. He's suffering from being part of an Inter team in chaos. Pazzini: had a rough game vs. Napoli Balzaretti: red-carded in today's match. Must be careful. Hold Montolivo: played a good game vs. Lazio. But his controversial contract dealings could jeopardize his Azzurri chances. Astori: has been a reliable presence for Cagliari. De Rossi: he's been Roma's best player this season--but we knew that.
Add Cassano to the down list. Ever since Pato and Robinho got hurt, Milan has looked absolutely stagnant in attack.
He's expressed his desire to play for his native Argentina, but we shouldn't count out Osvaldo just yet either. He's got 3 goals in his last 3 matches for Roma, and has been getting better each and every game. I personally don't think he would turn away from a call up from Prandelli.
I think Cassano has been OK for Milan, and also, you do have to say he's repaid Prandelli's faith. He is frustrating at times when he goes down too easily or loses the ball too easily, but he has scored and created goals for both club and country recently.
There are few more names to look out for. Especially November friendlies with Poland and Uruguay. Prandelli might use those friendlies to bring in new players and see how they fit to with the la nazionale. Alessio Cerci and Ignazio Abate are names that are always being discussed, but there are more than just those two. Here are some names: Pablo Osvaldo Angelo Ogbonna Andrea Mazzarani Giacomo Bonaventura Simone Padoin Ezequiel Schelotto Aleandro Rosi Stephan El Shaarawy Emanuele Giaccherini There's a whole lot more if Serie A coaches would start playing them. Names such as Diego Fabbrini, Andrea Poli, Fabiano Santacroce, Manolo Gabbiadini, Michele Camporese, Fabio Borini, Andrea Bertolacci, Davide Lanzafame, Christian Pasquato, Giuseppe Bellusci. Man Parma shoot themselves in the foot by letting go of Borini and keeping Pelle; I still don't know why Santacroce is not playing. I pray to GOD that Sinisa Mihajlovic would come to his senses and insert Camporese to the starting line up when he finally heals from his shoulder injury cuz he's a whole lot better than Nastasic, Natali, and Kroldrup. RANOCCHIA IS INJURED by the way that's why he didn't get called up and once Poli is back healthy, I bet you 100% he will replace Obi's or Alvarez's spot cuz they just suck..just look at the Napoli game! Ranieri needs to start giving PT to some of youngsters like Crisetig, Faraoni, and Caldirola. I still don't understand what is the story in Lecce with Bertolacci and Pasquato not playing..they definitely look strong when they play. Roma and Luis Enrique is building something great in a right way; playing home grown youngsters such as Osvaldo, Rosi, Borini and soon Caprari, Verre, and Viviani just need a stadium. FORZA CALCIO & AZZURRI!!
I'm pretty sure that he would be one of our (the other being Gamberini) first choice center backs if he hadn't gotten hurt. A shame. I think he'll get plenty of time this season, though, but the injury definitely set him way back.
I think Rosi is still long ways away from landing an NT spot, at least as far as Euro is concerned. Granted, he's looked good for us thus far this season, but he still hasn't even assured himself a regular starting spot in the Roma starting 11 as of yet. On top of that, it seems as though Prandelli feels pretty comfortable already with Maggio and Cassani as his choices at the RB position.
Ranocchia might be injured but he is not going to play now that Ranieri is in charge and quite frankly I think he stinks anyway. He was roasted against Bayern last year and that performance against Novara was minor league.
The U20 kickoff between Germany and Italy is right to start in some minutes. Who is worth a watch from your side? thanks
Did noone care? It was a pretty entertaining match that could have gone both ways. Your attacking players look fast and mobile. I won't wonder if one of them will play at the WC2014.
I did not get a chance to see it. What was the score and who looked good? In U20 I think there are a few good prospects like Viviani, Bertolacci, and Camporese.
3-2 in the end for Germany, Viviani and an Italian striker looked good.. the team was shaky on free kicks though.
Portieri: Iacobucci (Sudtirol), Tozzo (Sampdoria); Difensori: Camporese (Fiorentina), De Sciglio (Milan), Frascatore (Benevento), Piccini (Carrarese), Sini (Bari), Suagher (Tritium), Favalli (Cremonese); Centrocampisti: Ardizzone (Reggiana), Minotti (Atalanta), Laribi (Sassuolo), Spezzani (Modena), Viviani (Roma); Attaccanti: Beretta (Ascoli), Longo (Inter), Fischnaller (Sudtirol), Pettinari (Crotone), Verdi (Torino), Falcone (Lecce). Here's the link.
cassano isnt helped by the fact milans mid(current mid) do not make many runs, what can cassano do vs barca with the whole team in defence for example, didnt see it but im watching the u21s right now and there are some good players, insigne, gabbiadini, fausto rossi, borini(sent off after 10mins), crescenzi (LB) looks good too
Everyone with RAI that isn't working right now just watched the u21 play Lichtenstein, instead. Guess my point is that he is just playing based on his reputation b/c he plays for Milan. Miccoli however, does much more every week, but because he is playing for a team from the South, he is not the media darling and so, he doesn't have a shot. Sucks... same with Cannavaro. Anyways we've qualified already.. Why not try a few new faces?
One thing I want to say is that we need to be patient with Ranocchia. I think he's an excellent player. He's had positive spells at Bari, Genoa, and Inter, and we shouldn't give up on him after some poor performances with Gasperini's catastrophic outfit. He has showed well for Italy, too.
I think Prandelli sees him as a starter alongside Chiellini, but a lot will depend on how much playing time he gets now that Inter has gone back to a 4 man defense.
DAGE, those are suppose to be our GOLDEN GENERATION, 1992 born. But it's missing many many many stars like our #1 GK Perin and TWO game changers. I don't know why..maybe it's because coach Luigi Di Biagio is new or maybe he sees that their talent is too great for u-20. But Camporese, VERDInho, Viviani, and Baretta are good talents. Camporese and Verdi should be there at WC2014. Our u21 has nice talents as well but I'm more focusing on Paloschi and Fabbrini. Can they take that next step? Gabbiadini is a scoring machine, but according to Zdenek Zeman, Lorenzo Insigne is a whole lot better than some of the seniors. Should replace Ezequiel Lavezzi next year when he returns to Napoli. World Cup 2010 is the best thing that could ever happened for Italy because on June 24, 2010 the WORLD WOKE UP A SLEEPING GIANT!!! FORZA AZZURRI and CALCIO!
That smells like a load of BS! IMO, It is what it always is.. They will never let the heart of the national team come from the South or non-BIG teams.. So players on Udinese, Napoli and Palermo never have the chance to be the leaders of the Azzurri.
what happened in Juve that cause Chiellini shift to LB?? was it because Conte like the Barzagli-Bonucci partnership?? what happened to Paolo De Ceglie?? is he injured or in a bad form??